COVID-19 and Marketing: What Now and What to Do Next?

The
pandemic has completely blindsided us all. Within a month after COVID-19 was
declared a world pandemic, it has crippled businesses (especially brick and
mortar stores to mid-size entrepreneurs) and workers as governments lock up
major cities, shut down flights, and encouraged the public to stay at home.

In the
Philippines (for those who don’t know, this is where I am based), all cities in
Metro Manila and in the provinces were locked down. Businesses have stopped
operating except for those catering to basic necessities such as food, water,
and medicine. Even public transportation was put to a halt except for a few
services but even those were directed to prioritize medical workers first. Only
a handful of restaurants operate and dine-in orders are discouraged. Everything
is served to-go or for pick-up.

And it
seems like a month in enhanced community quarantine won’t work. Although there’s
a slight dip in the curve, it’s not enough to say that everything can go back
to normal. In fact, there are rumors that the lockdown might continue for another
10-20 days or go full on two months.

So what
happens next to businesses? Should you stop altogether to cut back on the loss?
Not quite. Although foot traffic has significantly dropped or stopped (if you
had to shut down your store), there’s still one place where traffic never ends;
and that’s the Internet.

What are the Facts?

The beauty of
digital marketing lies on our ability to track our target audience – their behavior
and what sites they visit online. While store visits may be down, internet
use has gone up by more than 50% since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. The
thing is though, they are not on Google.

Google Search
and Google Shopping traffic have taken considerable dives and mobile use has
been significantly reduced. On the Brightside, traffic to other websites like
news sites, social media, and video streaming platforms have increased.

What does
this mean for businesses? It means that if you haven’t built an online
reputation, this is the perfect time to do so.

Don’t Stop Doing SEO

Continue working on your SEO now means you don’t need to
fight for your spot in search engines in the future.

Start with optimizing your website. If you don’t have one yet,
build one. There are so many apps available in the market that would help businesses
owners to create a simple, basic website. You can work on the design later on
once you get the ball rolling.

If you already have one, start doing site audits and fix any
errors. You want your website to be as functional and effective.

Stay Relevant, Write
Timely Content

Another area to look into is your content. Make sure you keep your content updated as you can expect customers to visit your site for new information. This also goes for your social media profiles.

Don’t be shy to look into trends. You’ll be surprised how
some queries that are not even directly related to the virus have spiked in
search volume during the past days. Example: work from home tips, recipes, activities
to do with kids, how to start live streaming or podcasting, or even fun facts like
how Tangled mentioned ‘Corona’ as the kingdom where Rapunzel lived.

If your business can cater to some of the concerns of people
locked indoors, it would greatly help your brand stay on top of people’s minds
if you share some expert tips or valuable information. However, it is easy to
get tagged as someone who’s taking advantage of the situation. The key is to
focus on putting your brand on the positive side of this fight – provide assistance.
It may not be monetary but giving out tips and just spreading the positive vibe
will greatly help.

Example: I’ve seen ads by popular milk team shops here where
they’ve shared homemade versions of their bestselling drinks. Not only does
this reflect a positive image that their company is not hesitant to share their
ingredients to the world, it also helps get their brand get remembered.

Allocate More Budget
for Online Ads

Start reassigning your budget from offline promotion to
online ads. Though, you might want to cut back on doing Google Search ads a
bit. Instead, invest in Google Display Network. Just a couple of weeks into March,
traffic from Display Network grew by 13% while YouTube views are soaring up to
21%.

Now more than ever, it’s critical to advertise across
networks. Advertising across multiple networks can cut the loss of merely
depending on Google search. This is also the perfect way to find new audiences
or build a new following that might search for you later on in Google.

Last but Not the
Least, Stay Home, Stay Healthy

Times are challenging indeed. But it will come to an end.
Maybe not soon, but eventually it will. You want to be healthy, strong, and
mentally capable when that happens. We’re not only dealing with the virus, we also
have to look into our mental health as we go through stress, anxiety and fear.

No one likes to not have control of what happens in the
future especially for businesses. All we can do is pray, follow health and
safety protocols, and hope that eventually all our efforts work to flatten the
curve.